Jubilation, then tragedy, for Mogadishu press this week

"He's free! He's free!" a friend of mine
from Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, shouted down the phone line on Sunday. For a
fleeting second I did not know whom he referred to, given the high
number of journalists imprisoned in the Horn region of Africa--but then it
dawned on me: Abdiaziz Abdinuur had finally found justice. The 25-year-old
freelance reporter was arrested
on January 10 in Mogadishu for the most incomprehensible alleged crime:
conducting an interview.

"Interviewing an alleged victim of rape got
me in prison," Abdiaziz told
international broadcaster Al-Jazeera soon after he was released. "The interview
that got me in prison was not even published. I didn't do anything wrong. As a
journalist it is my job to interview people." He said he shared his cell with
about 40 others.

After he spoke to a woman who alleged that security
personnel had raped
her last year, Abdiaziz faced a confounding series of charges. He was first
sentenced to a year in prison for "offending state institutions" and "false
reporting," although he had not published any story based on the interview. An
appeals court later reduced his sentence to six months on charges of "not
reporting the [alleged rape] case to relevant authorities." The confusing court
rulings, which the local journalist union termed
"completely insane and unjust," appeared to be a tool for state institutions to
save face rather than exact justice. After most Somali journalists had given up
hope, the Supreme Court threw out the charges, with Chairman Aidid Abdilahi citing
lack of evidence, according to news
reports. Similar charges against the woman who alleged rape--"offending
state institutions" with "false allegations"--were dropped, citing lack of
evidence, during the appeal.

"I can only summarize my feeling that my
colleague who was sentenced by the injustice was freed by the justice," said Mohamed
Garane, Somali journalist and producer at Kenya-based Radio Ergo.

The Supreme Court's action followed
pressure from Somali journalists
and the international community. David Cameron shared his concerns with CPJ
after we wrote a public
letter to the U.K. prime minister, urging him to address the case with
Somali President
Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud during the president's February visit
to London. Cameron told us in a letter that he
personally raised the issue during his February 5 meeting with Hassan and that
he "was very concerned to hear about the conviction in this case," and would
continue to raise it.

Some scribes in Mogadishu were puzzled why
this case took such prominence, given the high number of journalists
killed with impunity
in what is possibly the most dangerous city in Africa to be a journalist. But,
as Garane put it, Abdiaziz's case represented the injustice against all victims
of Somalia's judiciary, while his release represented a glimmer of hope for the
future. Local journalists' expectations for the establishment of rule of law in
Mogadishu by a new government after decades of conflict were quashed by
Abdiaziz's imprisonment, and his arrest sent a chilling message to the
press not to cover sensitive issues such as rape or activities related to
national security.

All the same, "I will continue to be a
journalist," Abdiaziz said. "With my experience I hope to help others who are
going through what I went through."

Celebrations were short-lived within
Mogadishu's media fraternity. Just one day after Abdiaziz was released, a car
bomb exploded near the presidential palace and National Theater, killing
journalist Mohamed Ali Nuxurkey and wounding three colleagues, local news
reports said. Some sources said Mohamed was sitting in a nearby café when
the explosion killed 11 total; others said he was waiting for a public bus to
take him to work. In either scenario, Somalia lost yet another bright, young reporter.
Mohamed was working with several independent local radio stations and associations,
including Radio Mustaqbal and Radio Kulmiye, local journalists told
me. "The 29-year-old had been contributing to VOA for the past several months,
gathering material for breaking news stories, including past bomb attacks in
the Somali capital, and the controversial trial of a woman who said she had
been raped by Somali forces," the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Voice of
America said in a statement.

Mohamed was well versed in the risks he
faced as a prominent journalist in Mogadishu. In October 2012, he had written
to me expressing his fears. After a suicide bomber killed
three journalists in a café in September near where this latest attack
occurred and unknown gunmen killed three
more reporters
in the same month, Mohamed was considering fleeing the country. In October he
received death threats from unknown callers, and neighbors reported that
strange men were asking for him near his home. Like many Somali journalists,
Mohamed started to live like a nomad, moving from location to location ensure
his safety and only going out when necessary. He told me at the time a piece he wrote about the plight of
Somali journalists may have triggered the warnings by suspected Al-Shabaab
militias. But then the threats seem to dissipate and the journalist killings in
Mogadishu appeared to taper off at the end of the year. With the apparent calm,
Mohamed jumped full-swing into his profession in a bid to support his wife and newly
born baby, local journalists told me.

It does not appear Mohamed was the target
of the car bomb attack. According to news
reports, Al-Shabaab insurgents were trying to kill the city's security
chief and several other intelligence officers. But such reports provide little
comfort to Mohamed's family and colleagues.

The injured journalists were Abdirashid
Nur, Mohamed's colleague at Radio Mustaqbal, Ilyaas Sheikh Ahmed, a photographer
for the European Press Agency, and Munasar Nur from the independent Radio Goobjoog. All the journalists
received treatment at Medina Hospital and have been discharged, local
journalists told me.

At least one Somali journalist has already
been targeted for murder this year. Unknown gunmen killed
veteran Shabelle Media Network producer Abdihared Osman Aden
on January 18 while he was walking to work. Somali authorities have not convicted
a single killer of Somali journalists despite pledges
by the president to end this impunity.

Tom Rhodes is CPJ's East Africa representative, based in Nairobi. Rhodes is a founder of southern Sudan’s first independent newspaper. Follow him on Twitter: @africamedia_CPJ

Comments

Tom, thank you for bringing attention to these stories!

Glad to read that Abdiaziz Abdinuur has been released from prison--his punishment is unbelievable! However, I'm saddened to read about the death of Mohamed Ali Nuxurkey--another person's life has been needlessly destroyed. The murder of Abdihared Osman Aden saddens me as well. R.I.P.

It is sickening to see that there is no respect for journalists in Somalia, and in many other countries. The increasing crackdowns on press freedom around the world are scary!

this is the problems of the somali journalist,arresting and killing is famouse thing in somalia and thanksa your produce like this also reporter abdiaziz is great journalist he is open in somalia new justice